Chapter 28: Men on a Mission
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS...not even a little.
Author's Note: Been a while since I updated. This is a very short (the 2nd shortest so far) chapter and it's kinda dark. Just remember that Gibbs and McGee don't know that Tony and Ziva made it to a storm shelter. They don't know what's became of them.
An internal alarm woke Gibbs just minutes before the alarm on his watch went off. It was five o'clock on a Sunday morning.
He caught a passing nurse and asked about Beau and Justin. She said that Beau was still asleep, but would be released today; Justin was also asleep, but would probably stay in the hospital for about a week. Gibbs thanked her and she walked down the hall.
A new Arkansas State Police officer had came in, the man looked haggard. He had probably been on duty all night.
Gibbs strode over to the tired man and asked, "You know anything about Judson Hill?"
"Yeah, we got power trucks goin' in this mornin'."
"So, the roads are cleared?"
"Yeah, I reckon," the man yawned.
Gibbs nodded a thank you and went down the hallway to Beau's room.
He slid in the door and took out one of his business cards and wrote 'I owe you' on the back, then sat it on the table beside Beau's bed.
He returned to the waiting room to wake McGee.
"Hey, McGee, wake up. We're leaving."
"Where're we going, Boss?" McGee asked groggily.
Gibbs gave him a glare.
"Judson Hill, right," McGee said, jumping to his feet.
Gibbs led him purposefully down to the parking lot where McGee led him to the car.
"Boss, do you know how to get to Judson Hill?"
"You can tell me."
"I can? What?"
"Your phone's got Internet, you can pull up a map like you did for Tony and Ziva, right?"
"Oh...uh, yeah...yeah, of course."
McGee began to work on pulling up driving directions for Gibbs and they left the hospital parking lot.
They were men on a mission.
Gibbs had the petal to the metal all the way through the quiet countryside. Going through a small town, a local police officer put on the lights and siren and pulled them over.
The officer came to the window wearing his mirrored aviator shades, chewing on a piece of bubble gum, just like a movie cop.
In an attempt to be funny, he asked, "Where's the fire, buddy?"
Gibbs had replied coolly with, "Isn't a fire. Tornado. In Judson Hill." Then held up his badge and said, "Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS. Two of my agents are in Judson Hill, where the tornado hit last night; I haven't heard from them since yesterday morning. How's that for a fire?"
The cop looked like the bubble gum was going to fall out of his mouth, he allowed them to drive away with out a ticket. He understood why they needed to go fast.
They were men on a mission.
Other than talking to the local cop, there wasn't a word spoken. Every once in a while, the animatronic voice of McGee's iPhone giving directions would speak in a crude monotone that put brief pauses be-twe-en ev-ery syll-a-ble.
McGee knew that Gibbs was a man of few words and probably wouldn't have spoken even if there wasn't such a pressing matter to attend to. McGee also knew why he wasn't attempting conversation with his boss. He was scared.
He knew that his voice would betray his fear to Gibbs. He wanted to put up a tough front and look like he wasn't afraid that Tony and Ziva's mangled, lifeless corpses were waiting for them when they got to Judson Hill.
He silently hoped that if they were dead, this road would go on forever. They would never reach Judson Hill. He didn't know what he would do if Tony and Ziva were gone. At least they would have gone together. The only way it would be worse is if only one of them was killed. Then the other one would have to live with it. They were in love, everyone could see it except them. Hell, McGee had written books about it! If one of them died in the tornado and the other lived, the living one might go all Romeo and Juliet and kill themselves just because they wouldn't want to live without the other.
McGee didn't speak out of fear that he would accidentally say one of these things. As long as he was in the car with Gibbs, he had to look tough. He had to look the part.
They were men on a mission.
They flew down the road and eventually noticed the landscape being dotted with destruction. They figured that they must be getting close to the town. They both prepared for the worst. They could make it through this.
They were men on a mission.
A.N.: I know, you're thinking, "Where in the chapter did that title come from?"...I'm sorry, but I saw the opportunity to make a repeat line, and I jumped on it. Sanitized for your convenience (Between the Bridge and the River, anyone?)
I kinda liked writing the part for the small town cop who thinks he's a tough guy. That was great.
I plan on updating this within the next two days...or maybe even later tonight...probably not, though.
Most likely, I'll update this on Saturday afternoon.
We're getting close to the end and I'm ready to see this thing finished...I already have a sequel in mind, but it might just be a oneshot...would you guys be interested in a sequel involving Noah, Ryan, and Matt?